Two Little Butterflies
by I.J.Girl
Summary: Ayla Banebridge is Koki's three year old daughter, and has lived with the Wild Kratts her entire life, traveling and making new friends and leaving them behind. But one day, she meets a new friend who's different than the rest. Her name? Kate Varmitech.
1. New friends, New Truths

**4,803 words! 8D In two days! And that's not all of it! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I didn't want to post this until I got permission to use Kate as a character, BUT, I got all excited and jumpy and happy, so I wanted to post it! I am so sorry, Wild Kratts Super Fan 1. Once you get back, if you want me to, I promise I'll take it down..**

**It's probably because I drank half bottle of Pepsi that I'm so happy...**

**Disclaimers: I do not own Wild Kratts, Alaska, the African Savannah or Spider-man. Nor do I own Kate Varmitech/Corcovado/Kratt. She belongs to Wild Kratts Super Fan 1.**

**I do, however own Ayla Banebridge, (I don't own the rights to Koki's FanMade last name either. That belongs to the IP girls)**

**And I do own Ayla's half of this story and the edits to the original Kate story. AND I OWN A COMPUTER AND I OWN TWO DVDS AND-*trails on forever***

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

Two turquoise eyes peered warily out into the large room, dark eye lids fluttering shut in weariness as the large brown lips pouted in rebellion. Two little legs kicked out in front of her, pushing her further into the recesses of the ventilation shaft she was hiding in, as two stubborn arms crossed in front of her, pulling her knees into her chest. Outside, the rest of her family was in a flurry, trying to find her...Well, all except Martin.

"Ayla!" her mother, Koki, searched frantically throughout the Tortuga, nearly in tears, "Ayla, this isn't funny anymore! Come out now! Ayla!"

Aviva was searching throughout the crevasses of the large invention garage for her little 'niece', while Chris dragged Jimmy along for a quick search of the outside of the Tortuga, but Martin stood still, pondering until Koki grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"I have to find her! What are you doing-?"

"Sh!" Martin pushed her aside, marching straight up for the ventilation shaft the little girl was in.

Ayla let out a gasp, and pushed back as far as she could without the darkness terrifying her.

Martin pulled off the cover and crawled in with a benevolent smile, "Ayla, you're scaring your mommy."

The little three year old simply glared at him, angry that her hiding place was found. Martin reached out, brushing her curly ponytails back away from her sweaty face, "Sweetie, it's not good to hide from your mom. She loves you so much that it hurts when she doesn't know where you are."

Tears quickly filled the little girl's blue eyes, "She loves me?"

"Of course she does. Why would you ask that, pumpkin?" his only answer was little Ayla jumping into his arms and crying. Patting her back, he pulled her out.

"Ayla!" Koki reached for her little girl, who eagerly crawled into her mother's arms, "Oh, baby, you scared me so bad."

"She was only gone for an hour," Martin shrugged and getting a glare from the tormented mother.

"You're not a father. You don't know how horrible it is not to know where she is," Koki tucked Ayla closer in to her, as if trying to meld her child into her as far as she possibly could.

Martin nodded, "Okay, got me there."

Koki patted Ayla's back as the little girl's whimpers calmed down, "Oh, sweetheart. Why did you scare me like that?"

"I thought you didn't want me," Ayla wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, turning her wet face into Koki's neck, "Because I screamed at you."

"Oh, baby, I only want you to be a good girl. Just because I'm angry that you did something wrong doesn't mean I don't love you."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you too."

Martin grinned, happy the two had made up and turned to go tell the rest of the crew that the girl had been found.

Aviva crawled out of the garage, "Ay, _que alivio_! Koki, I can't imagine what you just went through. It must be horrible."

"It is," Koki kissed Ayla's brown head and sighed, "Now I don't want to let her go."

Aviva chuckled, reaching out to tousle the little girl's hair, but stopped, "Oh. She's asleep."

"You found her?" a loud voice suddenly intruded the Tortuga as Martin brought Chris and Jimmy Z back in.

"S_hhh!"_

Chris quickly noticed Ayla's sleeping state and winced, "Sorry. I'm glad she's back. That was quite a scare."

"Anyway, Chris and I were thinking about studying aardvarks next!" Martin changed the subject quickly, grinning.

Koki raised an eyebrow, "What-varks?"

"Aardvarks. Uh, we'll tell you when we find one," Chris grabbed his backpack, swinging it onto his back."

"Before you two go, I put a new app on your Creature-Pods that you can use to map the areas you're in by the creatures you find," Aviva waved Martin's in the air(which he had lost again).

Martin grabbed it, pulling his own backpack on, "Sweet! Let's go!"

.0.0

A black tent pitched in the middle of nowhere in the African Savannah contrasted violently with the brighter reds and oranges and browns of the savannah, with the occasional hardy greens, and a large slide was installed right next to it.

Two little green eyes peered out into the glaring hot outside, and two little pale arms were clutched around her butterfly doll as the little girl wavered between the sunlight on the outside and the rapidly heating up shade on the inside. She had once heard (back when her father let her go to preschool) that black was not a good color for being outside. She didn't know why, nor did she care too much right now, but maybe it was because it got hot inside.

She could hear her father complaining about his robots, but she didn't care too much. He always complained no matter what was going on.

Finally, the little girl decided that the tent was too suffocating to stay in, and quickly scrambled under the slide her father was on.

"Daddy? I'm hungry."

"What do I look like, an on-call chef? Go ask one of the Zach-bots," the black haired man fanned himself as he sat on top of his slide.

"But Daddy, they scare me."

The man grimaced, not in the mood to be even the slightest bit patient with his daughter, "Oh, stop your whining! Maybe I should have left you at home, alone with all the Zach-bots, huh? How about that? I'll leave you at home next time, is that what you want me to do?"

"No!" the four year old shook her head violently, and Zach finally looked down at her from the slide. She shuddered as she looked at the Zach-bot that hovered outside the tent. Oh, how those things had haunted her nightmares of being alone and lost in a dark place.

"Oh, fine, I'll do it," Zach mumbled, relenting to the sad little eyes. He never could resist those pretty green eyes for too long.

Kate smiled, knowing that was as close as she'd get to an apology from her father, and he slid down, not being able to resist the childish pleasure he seemed to get from it, and marched into the tent, which was fully equipped with a refrigerator, his bed and Kate's crib(that was 'accidentally' brought by the Zach-bots), and an assortment of comforts that _almost _rivaled Donita Donata's entourage. With a bit of flourish, he produced a bottle of juice from the fridge.

Kate giggled, "Daddy, I'm _hungry, _not _thirsty._"

"Ugh, it's so hot, I can't understand why you'd want to eat. My stomach is all but constricted from this heat..." he grumbled as he pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the fridge, "Here. Do you want milk or orange juice or-?

Kate giggled again, "Daddy, OJ doesn't taste good with anything sweet."

"...Oh, right. Milk then," he handed her a carton of milk, "Now don't bother me, I'm over seeing the digging of our new pool."

"Why are we in Anafrica?"

"AFRICA. And I dunno...there are just a lot of varmints here to exploit," he eyes took on the gleam they always did when talking about 'varmints'.

"Africa...Don't we have varmints at home? What about my friend that comes out of the hole in the wall?" Kate tilted her head to the side, her dark brown, slightly-below-the-ear-length hair cascading to the side.

"Those are boring and that mouse is no good...Speaking of mice, the Zach-bots at home are getting rid of them," Zach shuddered as he turned to go, climbing up the slide again, "I hate those creepy little things!"

Kate pouted, used to her father talking this way about animals, and thinking that everyone did. Actually, since her whole world was pretty much comprised of her father and the Zach-bots, that wasn't entirely untrue. Everyone that she had encountered held the same opinion...well, except Dabio. Kate had met the large man while her father was doing business with the tall, scary lady, and the two had hit it off. It helped that despite Dabio being nearly thirty years old, he had the mentality of a 6 year old.

He was her only outside friend, currently, and she'd only been able to play with him twice, once where he had unfrozen a canary to let her pet it. She was too little to notice, but the tiny thing had been terrified out of it's mind and flitted away the second the two scatterbrains had moved on to something else.

"Oh, hurry up, I'm boiling out here."

Speaking of being a scatterbrain, Kate left her sandwich behind as she scrambled outside to investigate, her carton of milk still in hand. She only found the same, everyday sight of her father scolding the Zach-bots for some thing they did...or in this case, didn't do.

"You call that digging? I want this pool done before-"

"_Hold up Martin!" _a distant voice sounded out. Kate's heart jumped.

"Who was that, Daddy?"

An evil(or mischievous, she couldn't tell the difference) smile spread across his pale face, "Hm, sounds like those animal loving Wild Kratts."

Kate gasped. All her life she had been told how horrible and mean the 'Wild Kratts' were, how they had ruined her father and a lot of his robots, and how she was never, _ever _allowed to talk to them or go anywhere near them. Still her curiosity made her sneak into the bush with her father, as he spied on them with his Zach-bots.

Her little green eyes fluttered as she first laid eyes on them, one man wearing blue sitting in a jeep, the other wearing green and jumping out. How strange, their eyes weren't...mean. Kate stared. Usually, she could tell who was a bad person, and who wasn't, but these...Wild Kratts, weren't bad. But what about what Daddy had always told her?

"Okay, the World's Best Digger's hole should be right around here somewhere," the man in the green shirt looked around a bit, staring at a thing on his wrist.

"Best Digger?" Zach's eyes lit up, and Kate smiled at seeing him happy, but...there was that strange feeling she always had with him, like...she didn't belong. She used to think it felt like he didn't love her, but then she thought maybe it was that she missed Mommy...now she felt as if she didn't belong. It hurt to feel like that.

"_That's _the kind of animal I need working for me!" he swiftly patted Kate's bare shoulder, causing the strap on her dress to slide off, "Kate, Zach-bots, stay close."

Kate began to move closer, but was cut off as the Zach-bots tripped her father by taking him literally and moving in too close. All three, Zach and Zach-bots, landed in a heap in front of the bush.

A muffled protest was heard through the dirt, "Ugh, not literally."

"Zach?" the man in the jeep raised an eyebrow, giving her father a suspicious look. Kate crouched down inside the bush, scared, although she knew from the stories that Daddy could take care of himself, "What are you doing here?"

"Spying on us again?" The green man crossed his arms, giving Zach an unwelcome look.

How did they know him so well, again? Zach stood up, pushing the Zach-bots off of himself and brushing the dirt off his shirt while giving them a defiant look, "No. I'm just, uh...I took a wrong turn in my jet. I was just leaving."

The man with the blue shirt narrowed his eyes, not fully convinced, "Well, okay then."

Kate caught a slight flash of movement inside the jeep, and the blue man suddenly acted a little jumpy, and started talking louder, "OH! Hey, look, gotta head popping ou-I _mean_, gotta head back out!"

"Uh, Yeah," the man in green jumped back into the jeep, buckling up, "Have a good trip back!"

The jeep started off, rolling away from Kate, who rushed out of the bushes to hug onto Zach's leg.

"Daddy, Daddy!"

"What now?" he groaned.

"I don't see the mean in their eyes," she piped up innocently, "I saw it in the cooker man, but not them."

Zach's eyes narrowed, "Kate, so help me, if you develop a soft spot for them-"

"A what?" the green eyes went blank, not understanding the saying. Zach stared into them, sighing as memories of his late wife came back...with a single thought of finding the 'Best Digger' the memories were shoved into a tiny box in the corner of his mind, and he let the Wild Kratt thing with Kate rest.

"Never mind. Just remember, Kate, these guys make themselves look like they're right, like they're the good guys, but _they're not,_" Kate felt a little rattled at how vehement her father was about the issue, and nodded automatically.

"Okay, Daddy."

.0.0

Ayla yawned, waking up in her hammock with her mother rattling off about a duck with Uncle Chris on the main monitor. Aviva was scrambling around with a look on her face that only creature inventing caused, and Jimmy was busy doing...something. With a pout, the dark-skinned little girl crawled out of her pink hammock, and bored with what was going on around her, stumbled outside.

Smiling as the sun hit her face and the breeze carried the smells of the African savannah straight to her nose, she giggled, and forgetting any rules about not playing outside without permission, she ran out, quickly finding a quarrelsome honey badger snarling over some unknown grievance. Keeping her distance, like Uncle Chris and Martin taught her, she followed the badger.

"What's wrong, honey badger? I think I'll name you Grumpy...Or maybe I'll name you something else, like Happy, so that you get happy because you got a pretty name," Ayla grinned, carrying on a conversation, "What's wrong, Happy? Did you lose your babies? Or are you just hungry?"

Without even knowing it, Ayla marched right into a line of captive animals being held by some strange red thing, and the only reason the snake she stepped on didn't bite her was because Zach's mind control kept it from doing so, just in case Kate had decided she wanted to play with the varmints.

"Sorry snake! Happy, slow down! I think you need a friend – Oof!" Ayla crashed headfirst into a soft thing, and as she rubbed her head, another little girl came into view. Blinking her big turquoise eyes, she stared at the brown haired little girl timidly, who pouted as she rubbed her own head.

"Ouchie. That booboo hurts," the green eyed girl contended, "Who are you?"

Ayla simply backed up, a little shy. Kate stared at her, blinking, "I'm Kate. Katherine Lindsey Varmitech."

A proud smile lit across the girl's face, while Ayla blushed, not understanding the full name, "I'm Ayla."

"That's a pretty name," Kate smiled happily, "I'm out here with my Daddy to catch animals and turn them into robots."

Ayla's look of shyness suddenly morphed into one of rage, "But why? Animals need to live in the wild and make friends and have babies so that the world doesn't end!"

Kate's eyes widened until they threatened to bulge out, shocked at hearing an opinion different than that of her father's, "What?

Ayla's limited understanding of a long lecture she had heard from Martin and Uncle Chris while they were rehearsing for a Wild Kratts Kids meeting had been that the animals must stay in the wild or else the whole world could end, when in fact Martin's words had actually been, "Or else the creature world as we know it could change, or come to an end altogether."

It had eventually been edited out, but Ayla had still heard it, and it was implanted deeply into her memory.

"It's true! Martin and Uncle Chris said it, so it's true!" Ayla nodded violently, then, she suddenly blushed and became timid again.

"Who are they?" Kate blinked, her paradigm suddenly shifted hugely, and wanting to know more, "Can I meet them? Are they nice?"

Ayla smiled shyly, "Of course they're nice."

"Does Daddy know them?"

Ayla pouted her lips in concentration, "I don't know anyone named Daddy."

Kate giggled, "His name isn't Daddy. I mean, it is his name, but not his first name."

"What's his first name?"

"Zach...I think..."

"Oh, he's the robot guy! Yes he knows Martin and Uncle Chris. He sees them all the time," Ayla grinned, not understanding why it was important for Zach to know her family, "Why do you call him Daddy?"

Kate blinked, "Because he's my Daddy."

Ayla's expression became blank, "What's a Daddy then?"

Kate stared, not knowing how to answer, "Uh, a Daddy is...I don't know. He gives you your name."

"My mommy gave me my name."

"Oh...A Daddy is the man who tucks you in bed at night?"

"Mommy does that. And sometimes Martin. Is Martin my Daddy?" the child logic made sense to both little girls and Kate smiled in relief.

"Yes! Martin's your Daddy. He lives in the same house, right?"

"In the same Tortuga, yeah," Ayla grabbed Kate's hand, grinning, "I'll show you!"

The little girl didn't give it a second thought, and followed her new friend with the bouncy, curly brown hair through the bushes in the direction that Ayla seemed to think was home.

.0.0

"Kate, come here, let me show you how it's done," Zach called as he fashioned a suit for every one of the animals he caught, not knowing which was a digger and figured he should be prepared. Silence answered his call.

"Kate, stop fooling around and get in here!"

Nothing answered, and he poked his head out of the tent, a strange feeling rising in his chest, "Kate? Did you fall asleep? Or faint of dehydration or something? Kate?"

Panic filled his heart. He might not have been patient with his girl, or want to lose time caring for her, but that didn't mean he didn't love her...some. And it was a terrible feeling that maybe she had gotten lost out in the wild with all those terrible vicious animals.

Taking a deep breath, he began to talk to himself, "Alright, Zach, calm down, she's probably fine, just fell asleep...in a bush somewhere. Yeah...That makes sense."

He turned back into the tent, "Zach-bot!"

All five hovered forward.

"No, not all of you! You there!"

Two moved forward and Zach face palmed, "NOT YOU, THAT ONE!"

Finally the right one move forward, "Thank you! Now go look for Kate and bring her here...But don't wake her up."

The Zach-bot beeped in affirmation, and zoomed off, giving Zach a sense of relief. The very first real world use of the Zach-bot, after all, had been Search-and-Rescue for his sister.

.0.0

Kate, meanwhile, was getting a full tour of Africa and it's animals, as Ayla rambled on about them.

"And you see that animal? That's a giraffe and it's the biggest animal on land. Wait, no, it's the tallest animal on land."

"It's huge!" Kate gushed, staring wide-mouthed in awe of the creature, "What does it do?"

Ayla's brow furrowed in thought, before brightening again, "It eats the thorny plants that no other animal eats! Except the elephant...I think."

"What's that?" Kate tightened her grip on her friend's hand, eyes wide.

"An elephant? He's the biggest animal on land and he's got a _biiiiggg _nose and big long tusks!"

"No, that thing," Kate pointed to a dark, slithering thing. Ayla's eyes widened, "That's a black mamba! Or maybe a python. Either way, they're bad news, but good thing is, it's creeping up on something else that's not us."

"What is it creeping up on?" Kate stood on her tip-toes, suddenly seeing the whole world in a new way.

"Its food probably. We'd better keep moving before my mommy gets scared," Ayla pulled her friend away from the snake, "And look! That's a honey guide. I think it's Sweet-Tweet!"

"Sweet-feet," Kate's tongue tripped over the tough sounds, "Sweet. Tweet. Sweet-Tweet! Did you name her?"

"No, Martin did," Ayla's eyes suddenly lit up a little brighter, "Daddy did!"

A couple more hours trudging through the savannah left both little girls very thirsty, and Kate began to become cranky.

"We're not there yet!" she whined, rubbing at a sore spot on her foot where her shoes were rubbing her wrong. Her pink dress had turned a strange brown color, and Ayla was fidgeting slightly.

"I think...we're lost," she admitted, pouting.

"Lost? But why? You know where your home is, right?"

"I don't. I thought it was here!" Ayla's turquoise eyes filled with tears, "I want home! I want Mommy!"

Kate grumbled, "I want home too! I want orange juice and-"

"Lemonade?"

"Yeah," Kate's mood lifted slightly, "Pink lemonade!"

"Raspberry and strawberry lemonade!" Ayla smiled.

"What's that?"

"Jimmy makes it, and it's so sweet and yummy and sometimes it has even mint inside of it and it makes your tummy all happy and your mouth too," Ayla sat down, poking her foot inside a hole. Kate sat down next to her, "Who's Jimmy?"

"He's like my big brother! He plays with me and tries to teach me things. Like how to cook," Ayla's mood brightened as she talked about her family, "And one time I accidentally broke his remote and he cried and then I got Aviva to fix it for him, and he was so happy when he got it back that he made Aviva and me a cake!"

"I like cake. Daddy says his daddy didn't give him much, so he's going to give me all the cake I want so that I can like him, even though he thinks Mommy probably wouldn't want him to because it might hurt my teeth," Kate hugged her butterfly doll closer to herself, despite the heat, "But I like ice cream more."

Ayla moaned, throwing her head back, "I want ice cream!"

The sound of loud buzzing scared both little girls and they dived into the hole without thinking.

"What is that?" Kate whispered. Ayla whimpered, "I don't know. Bees?"

The sound stopped, and without warning a head poked into their hiding place, warranting a scream from both terrified girls.

"Ayla?!"

"Aviva!" Ayla jumped out of her hiding spot, bumping Aviva on the head by accident, "Ow. I wasn't lost! I knew we'd find my home!"

"Ow, Ayla, be careful," Aviva rubbed the sore spot on her head.

Kate crawled out, and stared blankly at the long-legged woman in front of her.

"Whoa!" Aviva stared at Kate, confused as to how a little girl could pop up out of nowhere, "Uh...Who's your friend, Ayla?"

"She's Kate! Tell her, Kate. I was showing Kate all the animals. Can you believe she didn't know what a honey badger is?" Ayla's grieved face stared straight into Aviva's, but the Hispanic woman was still staring at Kate.

"'Ello?" Ayla tried waving her hand in front of Aviva's face.

"Sorry," Aviva snapped out of it, bending down to the little girls' level, "So, tell me, Kate, how did you get out here all by yourself?"

"I wasn't by myself," Kate smiled timidly, "I was with Daddy, and then with Ayla."

"Kate thought robot animals were good, but I taught her otherwise," Ayla beamed proudly, reaching out for her new friend's hand.

"I still think they help us sometimes."

"Uh..." Aviva's brow furrowed, "No they don't. Animals belong living free and-"

A high-pitched beeping sounded, and with a flash of gray, Kate was gone, yanked away from her friend's hand, causing Ayla to stumble and fall.

"Ow," Her turquoise eyes widened as she found her friend was gone, and Aviva spluttered in shock.

"What just happened?"

"Kate?" Ayla jerked around, searching for her friend, "Kate! KATE!"

Koki, who had been searching through an aardvark den, popped up out of a tunnel, "Ayla! What are you doing out here? I thought you were asleep!"

Ayla simply whimpered, "My friend is gone!"

.0.0

Kate was delivered to Zach kicking and screaming worse than the day he had taken her home from the hospital.

"Kate! KATE!"

She calmed down a bit, bursting into tears, "I, I, I got s-so scared."

Zach groaned, pulling her out of the Zach-bot's arms, "Oh, come on, I brought you home. Wow, you are hot."

Kate simply cried more, "It took me away from my friend."

"Your imaginary friend," Zach pulled out a juice bottle, putting it into Kate's hand, "Right?"

"Do you know Martin and Chris?"

Her father's face transformed into a scowl, "The Wild Rats?"

Kate's eyes grew wide, "What?"

"Martin and Chris are the Wild Kratts. I've told you before," Zach grumbled as he finished the last robotic chassis.

Kate curled up on the chair, taking big gulps from her juice bottle, "I didn't know...Do you know Aviva?"

"Little Miss Smarty Pants? Yeah, why-?" the tool in his hand clattered to the floor and he turned back to her, anger in every crevice of his face, "Were you talking to them?"

Kate whimpered, genuinely terrified, and she lied, "N-no."

It wasn't easy, but she was absolutely terrified of what her father might do if she told the truth. He had occasionally flown off the handle a few times, and it had shocked her to her core to see her father that angry. She never wanted that to happen again.

He relaxed, "Good...good. Come, let's see if those varmints have started digging yet."

She was quiet as he found the right animal, some sort of piggy-thing, or so he called it. Kate sat at the edge of the hole the animal robot was digging and contemplated over her new friend. Did that mean Ayla was a Wild Kratt? Could she never see her again?

The bushes rustling jarred the little girl out of her thoughts, and flashes of blue and green alerted her to the 'Martin' and 'Chris' Wild Kratts. With a gasp, she ran, and not having much time to hide, hid behind her father's legs, peering at them with scared eyes.

"Whoa, Zach! Come on, let that aardvark go!" Martin stepped towards the inventor, who tried to take a step back, but stumbled slightly, causing both Martin and Chris to glance at the obstruction. Two large, scared green eyes bored into Chris' brown ones.

Who was that?

"Uh, no. Go away, we're busy digging my pool right now," Zach nonchalantly inspected his fingernails.

"You're not doing anything, you're making the aardvark do all the work!" Chris protested as the aardvark climbed out of her hole and began a new one.

Kate just wanted them to leave. They scared her, and they were arguing with Daddy.

"She belongs in the Wild, Zach. Animals depend on her, none of these animals would have a safe place to live in and raise their young, if it weren't for the aardvark," Chris pointed out.

Kate's eyes grew wide, the words suddenly touching a spot deep in her conscious, deep inside her mind and heart.

It was wrong. The animal robots were wrong.

The curiosity in the eyes of the animals, the love she saw sometimes, the fear, the happiness that Ayla kept talking about...the animals weren't just dumb objects. They were creatures with feelings just like her. She would hate being mind controlled, hate it! And if she didn't want it, why would she do it to someone else?

"Oh, home, shmome! She works for me now," with a grin and a press of a button, the aardvark turned, directing a long line of dirt directly into the brothers' faces, causing them to trip and fall into the hole.

"Wait," Kate's voice almost seemed too small; her father didn't notice and he peered over the edge of the hole.

"Enjoy the deep end. I think I'll move my pool over a bit," he laughed as he marched the aardvark off in a different direction. Kate scrambled up to the edge, to make sure they were okay.

"Are you okay?" she called. Both of the men blinked, before Martin smiled reassuringly and gave her a thumbs up.

"Absolutely. Just need to get out of this hole."

Chris simply stared at the little girl, questions running through his head, "Who are you?"

Kate bit her lip, "I'm sorry. I just thought it was fun. Daddy always said it was supposed to be. But I know it's not now. I'm gonna try and fix it. I promise."

The rest of the day passed by much more slowly for her, as she curled up in the tent, trying to gather up courage to tell Daddy that what he was doing was wrong, but a single thought to the expression on his face just half an hour ago made it hard to be brave.

* * *

**So, what did you guys think so far? You know, I haven't been able to find the original Kate Corcovado story in forever. Is it still on the site?**

**Anyway, Please review! ^^**


	2. Call me Home

**4,156 words more! o.o I feel worn out just thinking about it. XD Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story! You rock!**

**Anyway, welcome to the next installment of the story! ^^**

* * *

_**Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years. ~** Richard Bach_

* * *

"Ayla, we're doing a creature rescue. Wanna come along?"

Ayla's soft turquoise eyes met Martin's pleading ones. It had been a couple of weeks since she had met and lost Kate, and despite their best efforts, the Wild Kratts crew couldn't find any records of a Kate, and it was a little more than the girl could bear. She hadn't wanted to play, or to learn about new animals. Even Jimmy was worried because she didn't want to learn any new recipes he had, and she always jumped at a chance to cook with him.

But her mood had been lifting the last few days, and she managed to smile and nod, "Okay Daddy."

She could see him visibly wince when she called him that. She knew it made him uncomfortable, not because he didn't love her, but because only her mother really knew who her father was. After getting home, she had drilled her mommy for information, but the only response was that she'd know when she was old enough.

But Ayla wanted a Daddy _now. _It didn't matter to her that Martin hadn't made her with mommy (she wasn't exactly sure _how_ mommy made her at all, actually, but it didn't matter), she just wanted somebody to tuck her in at night and tell her she could have all the cake she wanted, and to love her and scold her like Mommy did.

"I'm not sure if your m-"

"What creature are we rescuing?" Ayla jumped, her curly ponytails flying as she accidentally interrupted him.

"We're actually rescuing an entire pond!" Martin grinned, waving his arms, "Come hurry, even Aiden is helping!"

Ayla ran out, eager to join the fun, and helped her mom wrangle a couple of squirmy raccoons into the Tortuga, and helped bring out fish bowls and fish tanks, and giggled as she and Aiden brought in a cluster of fluffy little chicks with their parents in tow.

Aiden smiled as he put the chicks down with the help of the younger girl.

"Are you okay?" his perceptive brown eyes smiled at her.

"Of course," Ayla nodded, not knowing why anything would be wrong.

"You seemed sad earlier."

Ayla blinked, then pouted, "I met a new friend in the Africa Savannah."

"Sweet! Does she live in Africa?" Aiden pulled her outside to continue helping with the toads, which she refused to touch.

"Does it snow in Africa?"

"Uh...no?"

"Then no. Because she talked about her daddy not liking for her to play in the snow and I told her my mommy doesn't like it either," the brown skinned girl squealed when she found a fox den, gently petting the momma fox and moving on.

"But why are you sad?"

"Because she got taken away and I don't know why," tears filled Ayla's eyes, "And no one can find her now."

Aiden paused, putting the animal in his arms down and pulling Ayla into a hug, "I'm sure you'll find hersomeday."

"Really?"

"Really."

With a sniffle, the little girl giggled, "What kind of creature is that thing?"

Aiden looked to where she was pointing, "That's a star nosed mole. You wanna hold him?"

"Yeah!"

.0.0

Kate numbly played with her food as her father carried on about the 'science' of animal robotics over dinner. Oh how she hated to hear him talk about the animals as if they were tools or toys or something. It was wrong!"

"And you have to learn all about it, Kate," Zach smiled at her, "It really is an amazing science. And I'm the pioneer-"

"No it isn't!" Kate suddenly burst out, slamming her little hands against the black wooden table, a burst of anger and bravery suddenly filling her little body, "You've got to stop, Daddy!"

Zach's face twitched, changing from excitement to anger. How could she even _think _she could talk to him like that?

"How dare you say that to me?" he stood up, his chair falling back from how fast he did.

Kate's bravery didn't waver, "Chris said that-"

As soon as that name came out of her mouth, Zach had yanked her up out of her chair by the front of her pink sleeveless dress and with a growl that was almost inhuman her asked her, "Who said _what?!"_

Kate suddenly realized it was her father she was talking to. She _was _supposed to respect him.

"No- No one, Daddy. I...I didn't mean to scream at you."

Some of the anger leaked out of the man's body, and he put her down with a sigh, straightening the front of her now wrinkled dress.

"But you know it's not right. And you can't keep giving me lies. I know the truth," she protested calmly, "I know who I am."

Zach became confused, "You, Kate, are a Varmitech, and what I am teaching you is not a lie, it's science!"

"NO!" Kate's voice raised higher, as she stomped her foot and shook her head violently. She would not let him hurt anyone else, or trick any person into thinking that what he did was right.

"Excuse me?!" Zach's voice rose to rival hers, the anger returning sevenfold.

Kate shook her head, "Using animals as robots like they are toys is NOT right! It's not science! It's mean and science is for learning, not being mean! And if being a Varmitech is being a meanie to animals, I don't wanna be! I'm not a Varmitech! I'm a Wild Kratt!" Kate's eyes suddenly flew wide open, her mind having been turning gears and spouting it out her mouth before she really had a chance to think. But it felt right. Those people she had hardly met had made her feel like she belonged more than she had ever felt with her own father.

Zach's heart dropped, a cold, strange feeling penetrating it. He couldn't breathe.

"You...you're what?" he stared at her as if she was possessed. For all he cared for the Wild Kratts, she was.

Kate gathered all the remnants of her courage and bravery into one last protest against her father, "I'm a WILD KRATT! I know I am for sure!"

He didn't even know how it happened, but Zach found himself screaming, and slamming his daughter against the floor face first, before shaking her violently and screaming unintelligible words at her with red in his eyes.

He stopped, taking deep, gulping breaths. Kate had been knocked out as soon as she hit the floor, and for some reason, he was glad. Maybe she wouldn't remember him hitting her like that. Without thinking, he pulled Kate close, crying. How could she betray him like that? How could sweet McKenzie's little girl suddenly turn against him?

How many times would his family break his heart? He must have been born under some terrible star that cursed him or something...

His expression turning cold and the tears drying up, he carried Kate to her 'time out' room that he had made when she was two and throwing fits. He hadn't used it in a long time.

It was a big room, with a black floor and gray walls, all soft and padded so that if she had tried to hurt herself(which she had done once or twice when she was too small to really understand much) she couldn't. There was no window, and the door locked from the outside. There was a mirror, because she used to like playing with her reflection, and one bed, a little one, in case she fell asleep, but Zach simply placed her just inside the door and closed it, lingering outside the door and staring at a bruise on his hand that he got from hitting her so hard.

Why was it that he just kept repeating his father's mistakes?

.0.0

Ayla wanted to swim in the pond that Martin and Chris had broken and fixed, but she was a little scared of the otters. They seemed a little mean.

"Daddy!" She ran up to Martin, not noticing the surprised looks on Aviva and Chris' faces, "Can you take the otters out?"

"Uh, out of where?" Martin didn't bother to correct her this time. Ayla was a stubborn little twerp, and if no one had been able to change her mind by now, all they could do was try and ride her newest quirk out.

"The pond!" Ayla pointed to one crawling out with a fish in his mouth, "They're a little ooh-eey..."

"What does ooh-eey mean, Ayla?" Aviva rolled her eyes at the little girl's newest made-up word.

"Like ghosts," Ayla put her arms out like Frankenstein and stuck her tongue out to demonstrate. Chris laughed, giving Martin a look, "You've been spending too much time with Uncle Martin here."

"Yup," Ayla giggled, "Can you take them out, Daddy?"

"No, Ayla, the otters belong in the pond," Martin smiled, "But I can introduce you to one. Maybe if you get to know them better, you'll like them more."

"It's getting dark out," Koki interjected.

"Yeah, it's time for me to go home," Aiden smiled, "Bye Martin! Bye Chris! Bye Aviva and Koki and Jimmy!"

The crew sent him a good bye in unison, Koki telling him to make sure he made it home to his mom safe.

"Bye Aiden!" Ayla gave him a spontaneous hug before he marched off on the path home.

"Time for your bath, baby," a very wet Koki swooped Ayla into her arms, earning herself a shriek of delight from her little girl.

"No!" she playfully cried as her mom began to tickle her as Aviva and Martin gathered up the toys and swim tubes that Jimmy and Koki had brought out, "Mommy!"

Chris waved off the calls to come inside the Tortuga as Ayla was carried in and Martin dragged the toys in.

Aviva paused before heading in, "Are you okay, Chris?"

The thoughtful young man looked up at her from his spot on the dam, flashing her one of his confident smiles that she secretly loved, "I'm fine. Just got a few things on my mind."

"Would those things happen to have a name?" she placed her hands on her hips, swaying them slightly to the side with a confident smirk.

Chris' smile became a little less confident, "Well...I just...I can't get that little Kate girl out of my mind. Who was she?"

Aviva sighed, her own smile dropping, "I don't know. I can't find any records of a little girl that age with the name Kate Lindsey with brown hair and green eyes...Not that you, Martin or Ayla gave me much to go on. I only saw her for a few seconds."

"I know...She kinda sticks with you, doesn't she?"

"Hard to forget? Yeah."

Chris stood up, "I'm going to go for a walk, just to clear my mind."

"I'll let you get to it then," Aviva watched him walk off, before saying to herself, "It's sweet that he cares..."

.0.0

Kate moaned as she slowly came to, her little head aching on the cold, black padded floor. Her green eyes struggled to open, one of them throbbing with pain. She moaned quietly as she lifted her head up, shocked to find herself in her gray, gloomy time-out room. Turning on her side, she caught sight of her bruised and battered reflection in the mirror with a painful gasp. Her little cheeks were covered with red and blue bruises, and her left eye was black.

It was a little more than Kate could bear. She burst into tears, both from the pain, and from the shock that her father could hurt her like that. How could he? Didn't he love her?

The wails traveled through the house, finding Zach as he quietly spun around in his chair in his office. A part of him wanted to run and comfort his little girl, but a larger part wanted to punish her even more, to make her crawl back to him and apologize...But he knew she never would. Like both himself and McKenzie, once she stuck to something, she would never, ever back down or apologize for it.

He stood up, with a quiet sigh and slowly walked up to the room Kate was in, unlocking the door and finding Kate curled up with her head buried in her knees.

"Kate."

"Go away! You don't love me!" Kate sobbed into her knees, "You hurt me, and I hate you! I Hate You!"

That certainly didn't help Zach's mood any, but he bit down a growl, and fought back the black, terrible anger that made him hit her the first time.

"Go to your room."

"No!"

"NOW!"

"No!" Kate sobbed louder while Zach fought the urge to hit her. He never used to feel like hitting her...

Swallowing his pride, he stormed over to her, pulling her up to her feet by the arms, earning himself a loud scream of anger and pain from the girl, and he choked when he saw how badly her face had been hurt. He pulled her up into his arms, fighting and screaming, and silently carried her to her room on the first floor, with all the pink and frills that McKenzie had had in her own childhood room. Personally, he hated the bright colors, but Kate had loved it the second she laid eyes on it. Sometimes he wondered exactly what part of _him_ had been passed down to the girl...

Kate had calmed down a bit, but was still crying loudly, big, fat, crystalline tears slipping down her face. She refused to look at him, a glare of hatred and hurt settling on her face as Zach put her in her own bed, and in a half-baked attempt to get her to look at him, he handed her the butterfly doll that McKenzie had made. He smiled warmly, remembering long evenings where they had sat together on their old porch, her resting against his chest as he drew circles on her pregnant abdomen and she stitched the doll together.

Kate grabbed it and curled up with it, not sparing him a single glance.

"Darn it, Kate, _look at me!" _

She shook her head, sobs becoming louder as Zach began to see red again. He shoved her into the bed angrily, before turning on his heel and leaving. He snorted as he locked her door.

_The little traitor..._a snarl grew on his face.

.0.0

Kate managed to calm down after he left. While he had carried her, she had made up a plan. She just _knew _that if her Daddy hurt her like that, she didn't belong with him.

Hiccuping after her crying fit, she slid down off her bed, putting Anna down. She reached for the knob on her bed she knew was loose, and threw it at her window with all her strength. With a resounding _"CLANGGgggg!" _the window cracked, but didn't shatter. Kate's little heart began to panic, knowing that _someone _must have heard it, be it Zach-bot or Daddy, and her hands trembled as she picked up the knob again, and with a cry, she slammed it against the window with all her strength, causing the window to shatter completely under the knob in her hands. A few flecks of glass embedded her hands, but she quickly reached for Anna, and climbed on her bedside table to jump out of the window, landing on a group of withered vines, earning herself a couple of scratches on her legs.

Suddenly, a loud siren went off inside the house, and Zach-bots began to pour out of the house to catch what had been listed as an 'intruder' in their home-protection-programing.

Kate began to run, scared out of her mind, not even daring to look back at the frantic sounds of the Zach-bots recognizing her and getting new orders from Zach. She had lived around them so long, she almost learned the Zach-bot's language before she learned English. She knew Zach had ordered them to capture her at all costs.

Suddenly seeing the dark, nighttime forest as a way to get away, she charged into it head first. The Zach-bots still chased her, beeping and scanning for her the whole way.

Panicking and crying, Kate began to run in erratic directions, zigzagging as fast as she could, her legs burning up more oxygen than her lungs could breathe in.

She cried out as her legs burned and ached, and her lungs felt like they were screaming inside her chest. She was running so fast, she felt as if she fell, she go flying so far before she'd land, and she felt so tired that she knew if she fell, she wouldn't be able to force herself back onto her feet.

Suddenly, a _**THUD**_ filled her already sore forehead, and she cried out as she fell onto something that was alternately soft and hard.

"Oof!"

She lifted her head, suddenly realizing that she had run into someone, and her very first though was that she had run directly into her father, but once she caught sight of his face...

"Chris?" her broken and sore voice suddenly bore hope.

Chris, meanwhile, had been walking along, minding his own business until he heard a rustling in the bushes, and with a solid _thump! _Something hard crashed into the very base of his abdomen.

"Ooh, that hurt..." He sat up, holding the girl's shoulders to keep from knocking her off, and squinted to make out her face, "Who-? Kate?"

The girl suddenly cried out in fear, and Chris heard the Zach-bot's beeping.

"They- they're after me!" she forced out between gasps for air, wailing in fear, "Help me, please!"

"Wait, the Zach-" Chris was cut off as his arm was wrenched behind his head, "Gah!"

The Zach-bots, however dumb as they might get, ran on basic logic. The man was holding the girl, ergo, protecting her. He was a Wild Kratt, ergo, enemy. He was bigger than the girl, ergo, the primary target. Turning away from Kate, all three blared at Chris, charging at him and overpowering him.

"NO!" Kate jumped up on one of the Zach-bots, banging on its head angrily, "Leave him alone!"

The Zach-bot let go of Chris, waving it's arms around its head, futilely trying to grab Kate. After that didn't work, it unlocked a safety setting on the gyroscope holding it's head on, and began to spin its head around violently, causing Kate to literally fly off.

Suddenly, the robot's chassis was speared through completely by a long, thick uprooted sapling (young tree). Chris had grabbed it and used it to free himself and try to save Kate.

The robot collapsed in a heap, next to it's bashed and broken brothers, and Chris panted, spinning around to find Kate crumpled in a heap under a tree.

"Kate?" he ran over to her, picking her up and watching her limp head droop, "Oh, no, Kate, sweetheart, wake up!"

He quickly checked for a pulse, and sighed in relief when he found one, "I'm so sorry. Please, wake up."

The little girl groaned, slowly opening her dizzy eyes and finding the worried brown eyes of Chris. Suddenly, it felt as if her entire world crumbled down on top of her, and with a shriek, she burst into yet another round of tears and sobs, her aching lungs causing her to gasp for air every other sob, and the hiccups that always came when little kids cried making her breathe irregularly.

Chris hugged her closely, patting her back the way he always saw Koki pat Ayla's, "There, there, little one. It's okay, nothing's going to happen. I won't let anything happen to you."

.0.0

An ear-piercing, heart-wrenching scream rang throughout the Tortuga, sending Koki running to her daughter's hammock.

"Ayla, baby, it's just a bad dream," she tried to comfort the sobbing little girl.

"It hurts! It hurts!" Ayla writhed in her hammock, her eyes screwed shut as tightly as she could close them, "Make them go away, make it stop!"

"Ayla!" Koki pulled her out of the hammock, shaking her, "Wake up!"

"Please! No! Help!" Ayla cried desperately, her blue eyes suddenly shooting open, and her voice lowering into a weak whimper, "Oh, mommy..."

She hugged her mother tightly, desperately, as she cried out her fear, and Koki sighed, rubbing her back, "It was just a dream. You're safe here."

Martin peered into the room, feeling as if he should be doing something, but he shook his head.

Ayla wasn't his daughter, and Koki would probably be offended if he tried to become involved any more than he already was...

He walked back out into the main control room, sitting idly in his chair, "I wonder where Chris is. He should be back by now."

Aviva gave him a look, "Shouldn't you be helping with Ayla?"

"Um...why?"

"Well, she's kinda adopted you like a surrogate dad," Aviva spread her fingers in a 'what can you do?' manner, "And if I had a surrogate dad, I'd definitely want him to make my bad dreams go away."

Martin sighed, "Yeah, I know...I know. I just don't think Koki would be so enthusiastic about it. You know how jazzed she was about being a single mom and all."

"Well..."

Martin glanced up at her, immediately knowing there was more to the story, "What?"

"Nothing," Aviva blew her bangs out of her face and turned back to her computer screen.

"I know it's not nothing," came the sing-song reply, and Aviva groaned.

"Okay, fine. But don't tell her I told you. She wasn't actually as excited about raising Ayla without a dad as she made herself appear. She was worried that Ayla might grow up with daddy issues or something," Aviva shrugged, "I thought she had been doing perfect until Ayla came home calling you Daddy and all..."

Martin sighed.

"Where's Chris?" he changed the subject.

"I don't know!"

The sound of the Tortuga doors opening cut off any replies, and Aviva stood up to greet Chris as he walked in.

"There you are, Martin was starting-Oh my gosh!" Chris walked out of the shadows holding a crying and bruised little girl that was drifting in and out of sleep, and Aviva stared wide eyed.

"H-how-?"

"What is it Aviva?" Martin pushed his chair over, "Oh my g-Who...how...?"

"She ran into me while running away from a bunch of Zach-bots," both Martin and Aviva were surprised by the vehemence with which he spoke of the robots.

"Well...Why is her face so bruised?" Aviva gently cupped the sleeping girl's face.

"I can only wonder," Chris replied.

Aviva pulled out one of Ayla's spare pink hammocks (the one she didn't like, the neon pink) and set it up for the little girl, "Over here Chris."

Chris walked over, and seeing the death grip the girl had on his shirt, felt guilty to pry her fragile, pale hand off as he put her down. The tiny little thing was so exhausted, she didn't move or even twitch when she was put down.

Once she was safely in the hammock, Aviva gently tucked a blanket around the girl, just as Koki walked in with Ayla gripped onto her tighter than a gorilla baby. She noticed the look on her best friend's face, and immediately recognized it, knowing that most the time, she sported the exact same thing...But wait.

"Who's that?"

She was incidentally shushed by all three of the hovering adults, and Ayla's sleepy head turned to see her lost friend.

"Kate!" the girl climbed out of her mother's arms, running over to Kate's bed, happy at first, but then surprised, "Wow...she has a lot of booboos...Mommy, can I sleep with her tonight? Please?"

"No," Koki shushed her daughter, "How'd she get here?"

Martin picked Ayla up to keep her from eagerly crawling into the hammock with her friend, and explained, "Chris saved her from a wild pack of Zach-bots."

Ayla blinked, "Ooh-eey! That's more scary than ghosts!"

* * *

**Oh, someone asked who Ayla's dad is? Well, to be completely honest with you, I don't know. Only Koki does. :/**

**Koki: And I ain't telling!**

**IJ: Spoilsport. *pouts* I just gotta wait until Ayla grows up, then I'll squeeze the answer outta her. ^^**

**Koki: O_o -_- Hmph...**


	3. Love holds, blood runs

**Hey-yo everybody! ^^ This chapter has actually been finished for AGES but I've felt a little discouraged that not many people have paid attention to this story. After bashing my head, I realized I got it all wrong. Instead of being anger at the people who DIDN'T read this, I should be worshiping the people who DID. XD So, Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOO much everyone who reviewed, read or even gave this story a passing glance. ^^ I appreciate it all. **

**Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY. ^^**

* * *

All night, Chris had stayed up, trying to find who Kate was. Where did she come from, and why was Zach after her?

Ayla had woken up again, and he helped her get a midnight snack. She had munched on her cookies, regarding him with her innocent eyes, "Why you still up?"

"I'm trying to find out where your friend came from. And who her parents are," he had answered, while she yawned.

"I know who her Daddy is, but I can't remember. It's stuck in my head somewhere," Ayla had contended, her now loose hair swaying as she shook her head sadly, "I going back to bed. G'night, Uncle Chris."

"Good night, Ayla."

But now, Chris struggled to keep his eyes open, as the sun slowly came up and his research led to another dead end. A soft moan coming from the neon pink hammock alerted him to the little girl waking up.

Kate slowly opened her sore eyes, still a little tired from last night, but her young body was able to make repairs and energize her faster than an adult's. Her eyes were met with curving, domed walls of white, lit by the sunlight filtering in through the sunroof. Green plants were scattered everywhere, growing out of pots and trenches built into the walls, and computer screens covered every desk surface in the large room.

"Ooh," she cooed in awe, still half asleep, her eyes finding Chris sitting at the desk next to her. On the screen were shapes she'd seen all her life, but had never understood what they meant. Were these different than her father's shapes?

In reality, they were words, but since Kate hadn't learned how to read yet, she didn't know. She barely knew half the alphabet, her father had taken her out of school so quickly.

"Morning," came a gentle greeting from the man in green. Kate smiled softly, nodding her own good morning.

"You alright?"

"Yeah...no. I guess so?" Kate shrugged, pulling her upper half out of the hammock, letting her one arm dangle as she reached up to touch her sore eye.

"Ow," she pulled away. Chris smiled softly in sympathy. Her eye wasn't black anymore, nor as swollen as it was last night, but it was still an ugly red-blue mark.

"There you are, Chris," the man in blue walked into the room. Martin, Kate realized, "Please don't tell me you've been awake in here _all night._"

"I was," Chris shrugged. Martin groaned in pity, slapping a hand to his forehead. He knew Chris was much more tired than he let on. The only thing keeping him awake was sheer force of will, which Martin knew well enough to know to not provoke.

"H-hi," came a timid voice. Martin looked down to find the little girl propping her head on the edge of the hammock, almost scared to have spoken up.

"Well, hey there, little cowgirl," he smiled, walking up to her, slowing down a bit when she shrunk back, almost as if she was afraid, "Don't worry. I don't bite."

That earned a giggle from Kate.

_Mission accomplished._

Martin knelt down next to the hammock, "Do you know who I am?"

Kate nodded softly, "I think so. You're Martin, right?"

"That's right!"

"I'm..." Kate's voice trailed off, her expression becoming slightly timid again, "Katherine...But my daddy calls me Kate."

"No need to look so down," Martin reached up, holding her little hand between his thumb and his fingers. Kate suddenly felt really small.

"It's just a lot of people have my name too," Kate's expression was still a little sad.

"Makes me feel...ordinary?" the little girl's tongue rolled strangely over the big word.

"No, not at all, Kate. When you think about it, every name is different, because it describes a different person, every time," Martin smiled, stroking her little hand in a reassuring manner.

Kate's green eyes lit up, sparkling with happiness, although one was still a little dark from last night.

Which reminded Martin...

"Sweetie?"

Kate smiled at him, "Yeah?"

Martin looked to Chris, who seemed to understand what he was going to ask and shrugged in confusion. He didn't know how to ask either.

"What-?" he placed his large hand on her shoulder, and the happy little girl tilted her head to rest it on his hand, "What happened to you?"

Kate shrugged, not understanding, "What do you mean?"

Martin's eyes ran over all the little bruises on her arms and shoulders, and the most prominent ones on her face, "Um..."

Kate understood, and both Martin and Chris winced as they saw Kate retreating inwards again, her happy expression turning dark, then hopeless. She began to hiccup as she tried to hold in a sob, shaking her head as a tear slowly made it's way down her face.

"I...I...don't know why he got so angry," came a tiny whimper.

"Who, Katherine?" Martin gently cupped the little girl's cheek, while Chris' brow furrowed in slight anger.

"It was him, wasn't it?" he asked her quietly. Kate looked up, not understanding.

"Hmm?"

"Zach," Chris clarified, his voice becoming slightly sharper, "Zach did this to you, didn't he?"

Tears flooded the formerly clear green eyes as Kate broke out sobbing, "Yes. _D-Daddy did it."_

Kate was trying hard not to cry loudly, and Chris knelt down next to the hammock, feeling slightly guilty for having pushed her.

"Oh, Kate."

"I-I don't know why! I just told him he was wrong! And that I didn't want to do what he does! I told him I was a Wild Kratt, and then, it, it," Kate's wails cut off her speech, and tears of confusion, fear and pain streaming down her face as she clenched her hands over her head, her sobs provoking a severe headache.

Chris felt his heart wrench, and he pulled Kate out of her hammock, holding her close to calm her down.

He couldn't explain it yet, but, he felt differently towards Kate than he did for all the other children he had encountered. There was something different about her.

The shrieking toddler began to calm down as she buried her face in his shirt, like the night before, and her sobs slowly became silent tears.

Martin stood up, hearing Ayla in another room, arguing with her mother to go outside and see what was wrong, and knowing it wouldn't be long before the entire crew was up and about.

Chris didn't notice, and he simply soothed Kate, rocking back and forth with her. He suddenly felt fiercely protective of her. He would never, ever let anyone hurt her again, especially Zach.

Kate was mostly silent now, only a few hiccups to indicate her earlier outburst.

"Don't worry, okay?" Kate's green, tormented eyes looked up to met his warm, protective brown ones, "I will never let anything happen to you again. I promise."

Kate's expression became curious. She had never been promised anything before.

"You do?"

"Yes."

"Hmm," she became pensive, before smiling softly and demanding quietly, "Pinkie promise."

Chris laughed quietly, wrapping his pinkie finger around Kate's tiny one, "Alright, I pinkie promise."

Kate giggled, just as the door to the bedrooms flew open and a very, very rambunctious Ayla came flying out, just out of her mother's reach.

"KATE!" She squealed, running over to her and bouncing, since Chris kept Kate just out of reach of her little arms.

"Ayla?" Kate's face broke out into a grin, and she squirmed to be let down, only to be immediately glomped by the pajama wearing little three-year-old, who hugged her as fiercely as her little arms let her.

"I missed you, I missed you, I _missed _you!" Ayla jumped while holding onto Kate, who was laughing loudly and hugging her friend back.

Aviva walked in, yawning, "Ay, what's all the ruckus out here?"

She found herself met with a tear covered, grinning little girl, and a very serious set of Kratt brothers. She put two and two together.

"Who hurt her?" She asked them quietly as Koki tried to wrestle her little girl off of Kate.

"Zach," Chris almost seemed to snarl, "He's also her dad."

Aviva's eyes flew open, "Whoa. Wouldn't have guessed that from looking at her."

Chris shook his head, crossing his arms as he glared at nothing in particular.

"Is she okay?" Aviva glanced to the little girl. Martin nodded, "She's fine. Just a little shook up."

Ayla finally let Kate go and was now admiring her hair, knowing just enough to not talk about the bruises on her face, "You have soft, soft hair! And so pretty. You must use a lot of shampoo. But I think you need a shower. You smell like dirt and sweat. Oooh! I'll let you play with my bath toys!"

"But I don't want a bath!" Kate protested, "I just want to-"

She was cut off by surprisingly loud beeping that sent the entire crew on high alert. Kate let out a cry of fear, and Ayla jumped away, afraid she had done something wrong.

"What is it?" she asked as Koki scooped her up, and Kate ran to her safe haven, Chris.

"He's here," Kate whimpered, wrapping her arms around Chris' legs, "He's gonna be so, so, soo mad at me!"

"Those are Zach-bots!" Koki exclaimed as the video feed from outside the Tortuga revealed an army of Zach-bots much, much larger than anything they had faced before. She held Ayla a little tighter, causing her to squirm.

Chris balled his fists, picking Kate up and handing her to Aviva, "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Wait, Chris, what are you doing?" Martin grabbed Chris to keep him from marching out the door, "Did you see that army?! They'll tear you apart faster than a great white can torpedo!"

"Let me try and talk him down," Chris shrugged Martin's hands off, "Maybe we can avoid a gigantic battle altogether. But even if he does try to attack, we are not letting him get Kate back!"

The entire crew was surprised at his vehemence.

"Uh, maybe you shouldn't be the one to talk him down Chris," Jimmy spoke up from behind his chair.

Chris simply ignored the comment and walked out, facing the army of robots. Zach scrambled to the front, a look of anger and vengeance that almost rivaled Chris'.

"Chris!" Zach yelled, marching up to him and getting into his face, "Give me back my daughter and I'll let your little _team _get away with their lives!"

Chris simply crossed his arms, with a calm on his face that even Martin was surprised to see. He had seemed as if the moment he saw Zach he'd fly off the handle and do something regrettable.

"I just want to ask you something Zach. Do you remember when you were around thirteen?"

Zach snarled, "I don't want to remember, I want my daughter back!"

"When you would come to school with those bruises on your face, sometimes even limping?"

Zach's expression changed, going from angry to reserved, cold.

Chris continued, "Yes we noticed. And yes, we were worried, but you wouldn't let us do anything about it. But this girl came running to us. She's going through the _exact. Same. Thing. _And we can help her now. Didn't you wish for _anything _to come and take you away from _him?_"

"You don't know anything about me," Zach's voice was small, and he shook his head, the anger coming back, "I am not anything LIKE my dad!"

"Then why is Kate covered in bruises?!" Chris began to raise his voice as well, although he remained calm, "Why is she saying that _you _want _her _to do what you do? Isn't that the exact same thing _your _dad did? Isn't that why YOU hated him?"

Zach raised his fist, sending it hurtling towards Chris' face, but stopping a mere inch away, gritting his teeth.

_Damn you, Dad. I've turned into you._

He dropped his hand, a vicious snarl on his face. He couldn't face this. Not today. The wounds were still raw.

"Just know, Zach, if you ever come near her, or hurt her again," he got into Zach's face, his own anger suddenly becoming evident, "I will see to it that it is not a 'calm' conversation."

"This isn't over," he glowered at Chris, turning and storming back into his jet, the Zach-bots retreating. As the door closed behind him, he fell to his knees. He had lost. He lost Kate. That sweet little face that made every day brighter, and that inquisitive little mind that was always interested in what he was doing...

"Oh, McKenzie, I've lost her..."

He was fraying. He knew it, he had known it as he watched his family disappear, as he watched his father die and still couldn't forgive the guilt ridden man. He knew it when McKenzie's heart monitor went flat and the doctors dragged him out as they gave one last effort to save her. And now he knew even more as he was flown away from his daughter, the little girl that he had raised with as much love as his damaged heart could give...Something snapped.

With a shout, he slammed both fists on the floor, his hopeless face suddenly consumed with one thing, and one thing alone.

Revenge.

As soon as the Zach-bots were out of sight, Chris took a deep breath of relief, revealing that he had been more terrified than he let on.

When he walked back in, Kate lifted her head from Aviva's shoulder, "Is he gone?"

Chris smiled, ruffled her hair, "Yes, he's gone. We're not going to hear from him for a while."

Aviva lifted her pensive gaze from the floor, looking at both brothers accusingly, "You never told me that about him."

"Uh, never seemed relevant?"

"I want down!...please?" Kate demanded, squirming. Aviva laughed, putting her down. Ayla soon demanded the same, running up to Kate, "Do you want to see the whole Tortuga? It's super, super big and it's got all sorts of stuff!"

"Okay!"

Martin turned to Chris with a big smile on his face as Ayla ran around giving Kate a tour of the Tortuga, and clamped his hand on Chris' shoulder, "I am so proud of you right now, I could kiss you."

Chris regarded him with a slightly paranoid look, "Please don't."

Kate ran up to Chris, tugging on his pant-leg, "What's that?"

Her little finger was pointed up towards Martin's Creature Power suit. Kate, though, didn't know that. All she knew was that that blue vest-thingie looked more interesting than anything else in the room, and her tour guide was stumped as to how to explain the suit.

"Oh, that's called a Creature Power Suit. It gives us the ability that the creature does."

"That's right!" Ayla nodded, with a giggle, before running off, spotting something else to attract her short attention span.

Kate blinked, not quite understanding, "How?"

Chris smiled, simplifying the explanation for her, pulling out a creature power disk to show her, "Well, you put in a disc like this that is for a certain creature, a butterfly for example, then you touch the real butterfly, and you can get that butterfly's power to fly by pushing activation button, or the paw print in the middle."

Kate reached for the disc, turning it over fondly before holding it up in front of the blue Creature Power suit.

"I like it," she said innocently as she smiled at Chris.

"Would you like to have one someday?" Chris asked.

Kate eyes lit up, "Yes! But...Only Wild Ra-Kratts use them...I'm not...a real Wild Kratt..."

Aviva picked her up, "Well...Do you want to be?"

Ayla ran up to Kate, catching the very last part of the conversation, "Ooh, you can be my sister!"

Koki raised an eyebrow, pulling her daughter away, "I don't think I can take on both you girls, sweetie."

Kate's eyes widened, her mouth a little O, "You...you want me?"

"Yeah!" Ayla giggled, and Chris stood up, taking her little hand in his.

"Yes we do," he smiled. Martin grinned as Ayla climbed up his back onto his shoulders to get closer to her friend, "Why not? We could always use another pair of curious hands around here!"

"Besides, you are Zach's daughter. Inventing runs in the family, and I'd love to teach you even more," Aviva smiled.

Kate looked at all the people in the Tortuga, her mouth a little O. She felt...home. Somehow, someway, she didn't feel lost or alone anymore. These people...they were her family.

"What do you say, Kate? Wanna be part of the Wild Kratts team?"

She nodded violently, grinning from ear to ear, "Yes! Yes!"

Ayla squealed, "YAY!"

"Alright then! Welcome to the team, Kate Corcovado," Aviva hugged the little girl closely.

"Corcovado?" Chris raised an eyebrow, "Aviva, are you sure-?"

She leveled him with a warning glare, "Hey, I take care of you guys. That's experience enough."

Martin and Chris deadpanned while Koki and Jimmy burst into laughter.

"Aviva's going to be your mommy?" Ayla gasped, "That's so weird! Good weird."

Kate's green eyes lit up as she looked at Aviva. She had...a Mother. A mommy!

Aviva hugged her close, whispering into the little girl's ear, "Welcome home."

* * *

**And that, dear readers is the end of this story. ^^ But worry not! I've already gotten a few ideas for the next story, but if you guys have any ideas, PLEASE share them. ^^ OOh, and any cool new animals! ^^**


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